1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a TV broadcast cooperative type data perusal apparatus connected to a television reception device that is capable of receiving a digital television broadcast program to which is appended descriptor information for searching, a TV broadcast cooperative type data perusal method, and a storage medium storing a program that implements the data perusal method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, digital television broadcasts have been implemented in video formats such as MPEG2 that include moving image information and sound information. Although MPEG2 is an extremely efficient format for broadcasting of digital programs and for data broadcasting, it is not directed towards effectiveness for interactive digital broadcasting linked to broadcast of digital programs. Due to this, video formats such as MPEG7 and MPEG21 in which descriptor information for searching is appended to moving image and sound information are being proposed as formats for interactive digital television broadcasting, which is considered to be the principal technological path forward to the future. With a digital television broadcast to which this type of descriptor information for searching is appended, at the time of broadcasting a commercial message, URL address information for a home page that carries information about a product that is promoted by this commercial message is also transmitted, and accordingly a user in whom the product excites interest, can easily jump, by a simple operation, to a home page upon which is provided detailed information relating to the desired product.
However, in the above described example under current discussion, although, for a program such as a commercial message for which the jump destination website address is clear, it is possible, by using appended URL address information as descriptor information for searching, to implement automatic linking to the website specified by this URL information, by contrast, in the case of a program for which no URL address information on a URL address to a directly related website is appended as descriptor information for searching, it is not possible to link automatically to any desired website.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a TV broadcast cooperative type data perusal apparatus and a TV broadcast cooperative type data perusal method that can establish connection to websites in which is provided information related to the subject matter of a program that is being broadcast, and can simply peruse the information related to the subject matter from these websites, even when no website address information is appended as descriptor information for searching to the program being broadcast, provided that the information related to the subject matter in the program being broadcast is appended to the program as the descriptor information for searching, and a storage medium storing a program which implements the data perusal method.
To attain the above object, a first aspect of the present invention provides a TV broadcast cooperative type data perusal apparatus comprising connection means for connecting the apparatus to a television reception device with which a digital television broadcast program to which is appended descriptor information for searching can be viewed, extraction means for extracting the descriptor information for searching appended to the digital television broadcast program, non-volatile storage means storing related website information for determining websites upon the internet that are related to the descriptor information for searching, determination means for determining a website upon the internet to which connection is to be established, based upon the descriptor information for searching extracted by the extraction means and the related website information, internet connection means for establishing connection to the determined website upon the internet to which connection is to be established, and perusal means for downloading contents from the website to which connection has been established, and for perusing the contents via the television reception device.
With the above arrangement, during the broadcast of a program, it is possible simply to connect to a website that carries information related to the subject matter of this broadcast program, and to peruse the information related to the subject matter from this website, even if no website address information is appended to this program broadcast as descriptor information for searching, provided that the information related to the subject matter is appended as the descriptor information for searching.
It is preferable that after connecting to the determined website to which connection is to be established, the perusal means instructs a search engine at the website to which connection has been established, to perform a restricted search for contents of the extracted descriptor information for searching, and downloads the contents obtained as a result of the restricted search.
More preferably, a plurality of items of information arranged in successive layers are appended as the descriptor information for searching to the digital television broadcast program, and the extraction means extracts the plurality of items of information, the determination means determines as the website to which connection is to be established, a website that corresponds to the most significant item of information among the extracted plurality of items of information, and the perusal means transfers all of the less significant items of information that follow the most significant item of information among the extracted plurality of items of information, to a search engine at the determined website to which connection has been established.
Preferably, the perusal means comprises service selection means for selecting a desired service from among a plurality of types of service provided by the website to which connection has been established, and service exploitation means for exploiting the selected service.
Also preferably, the determination means comprises search means for searching candidate websites that are to be the website upon the internet to which connection is to be established, based upon the descriptor information for searching extracted by the extraction means and the related website information, the determining means determining the website to which connection is to be established from the candidate websites obtained by the search.
In this case, it is more preferable that if a plurality of candidate websites have been obtained by the search means, the determination means displays to a user via the television reception device a selection screen for selecting a desired candidate website from among the plurality of candidate websites, and determines the candidate website selected by the user upon the selection screen as the website to which connection is to be established.
Preferably, the determination means comprises search means operable when a plurality of items of descriptor information for searching have been extracted by the extraction means, for searching website information corresponding to the plurality of items of descriptor information for searching extracted from the storage means, and user interface means for displaying to a user via the television reception device a selection screen for selecting desired website information from among website information corresponding to the items of descriptor information for searching obtained by the search means, the determining means determining the website to which connection is to be established based upon the desired website information selected by the user upon the selection screen.
Also preferably, the TV broadcast cooperative type data perusal apparatus according to the present invention further comprises updating means for updating the related website information stored in the storage means.
To attain the above object, a second aspect of the present invention provides a TV broadcast cooperative type data perusal method which performs perusal of data related to a digital television broadcast program using descriptor information for searching appended to the digital television broadcast program that is viewed via a television reception device, comprising the steps of an extraction step of extracting the descriptor information for searching appended to the digital television broadcast program, a determination step of determining a website upon the internet to which connection is to be established, based upon related website information for determining websites upon the internet that are related to the descriptor information for searching, stored in non-volatile storage means, and the descriptor information for searching extracted by the extraction step, an internet connection step of establishing connection to the determined website upon the internet to which connection is to be established, and a perusal step of downloading contents from the website to which connection has been established, and perusing the contents via the television reception device.
To attain the above object, a third aspect of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium that stores a program which performs perusal of data related to a digital television broadcast program using descriptor information for searching appended to the digital television broadcast program that is viewed via a television reception device, the program comprising an extraction module for extracting the descriptor information for searching appended to the digital television broadcast program, a determination module for determining a website upon the internet to which connection is to be established, based upon related website information for determining websites upon the internet that are related to the descriptor information for searching, stored in non-volatile storage means, and the descriptor information for searching extracted by the extraction module, an internet connection module for establishing connection to the determined website upon the internet to which connection is to be established, and a perusal module for downloading contents from the website to which connection has been established, and for perusing the contents via the television reception device.
The above and other objects of the invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.